Garth Brooks on Hearing His First Single on the Radio: ‘You’ll Remember Forever’

Garth Brooks is truly a living legend. But before he became the superstar we know and love today, Brooks spent several years struggling -- even quitting the business -- before he finally got a record deal. Below, in his own words, Brooks shares the excitement he felt upon hearing his first single on the radio for the first time.

I was driving in Nashville. There's a segment where I-65 doglegs with I-40 for about a mile -- I was on that piece of road the first time I heard "Much Too Young."

When it was over, I switched over to the other radio station, because there were two there at the time. When I switched over, it was right in the middle of the song on that one as well. It was pretty cool!

Thank God I was by myself, because I almost killed the poor old lady that was driving next to me; I just about ran her off the road. It's a memory that you'll remember forever. I was in my red Silverado truck that I moved to town in.

It was big for me. I wanted everyone to hear it. It's everything you think it's going to be. And then it never gets old. When we were doing nights, when you go play bars and stuff, the radio people that were there say, "Okay, we're going to play it as soon as we get back to the station," and you tune it in on the bus just to hear it.

It's great. You can play the record all day, but there's something special about when it comes on the radio!

This story was originally written by Pat Gallagher, and revised by Angela Stefano.